The Angel Investor Perspective on Equity Crowdfunding
2014 (English)Independent thesis Basic level (degree of Bachelor), 10 credits / 15 HE credits
Student thesis
Abstract [en]
This thesis explores the rapidly growing phenomenon of equity crowdfunding from the perspective of professional investors. The aim was to contribute to the relatively thin aca-demic field of equity crowdfunding, shedding light on why it is yet to be recognized as an important instrument for raising capital and provide suggestions for improvement. The data was collected through semi-structured in-depth interviews with Angel Investors that through their experience could identify benefits and constraints with equity crowd-funding not obvious to the crowd. Benefits of using equity crowdfunding platforms were outweighed by the identified constraints such as corporate governance issues, uncertainties concerning laws and regulations, high risk, and lack of intellectual capital. This eventually led to suggestions for improvements that included channelling the crowd investments through a mutual fund, and allowing the crowd to co-invest with Angel Investors to get around the constraints. Conclusively, the Angel Investors were positive towards the underlying ideology of equity crowdfunding of helping more entrepreneurial ventures reaching their full potential by tapping a previously unutilized source of capital, the crowd. However, there is scepticism to how the phenomenon is currently working in practice.
Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2014. , p. 41
Keywords [en]
Equity Crowdfunding, Crowdfunding, The Crowd, Angel Investor, Swedish Angel Investor, Swedish Angel Investors, Business Angel, Equity Gap, Fundraising, Capital Raise, Early Stage Funding, Entrepreneurial Funding, Investing
National Category
Business Administration
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:hj:diva-23869OAI: oai:DiVA.org:hj-23869DiVA, id: diva2:719448
Subject / course
IHH, Business Administration
Supervisors
Examiners
2014-06-132014-05-252014-06-13Bibliographically approved